1 4 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



- 







4. Canis Azatue. 



Plate VII. 





Canis Azarse, Pr. Maximilian, Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte Braziliens, vol. ii. p. 338. 

 Agouarachay, Azara 9 Essais sur l'histoire naturelle des Quadrupedes de la Province du Paraguay, 

 torn. i. p. 317. 



C. suprh albo nigroque variegatus ; lateribus cinerescentihus ; capite, auribus ex- 

 temk, artubusque, cinereo-cinnamominis ; mento nigro ; tibiis externis ad basin nigro 

 lavatis ; caudd albescente, supra nigro variegatd, ad apicem nigra ; spatio pone 



bus in pectore plus minusve distinctis. 



fi 



Description. — Compared with the common fox (Canis Vulpes, Auct.), the present 

 animal is rather smaller, and of a more slender form. Its limbs are a little 

 longer in proportion ; the ears are not so broad. The tail is not quite 

 so bushy, neither is it so long ; the fur is much longer, and of a harsher 

 nature. 



The predominant colours of the body are black and white ; the limbs are of 

 a fulvous hue externally. The hairs on the under part of the feet are dirty 

 brown ; the fore part of the anterior legs, and the feet, are of a buff colour ; 

 on the former, the hairs are more or less distinctly tipped with black, which 

 produces a grizzled appearance. The inner side of the fore legs is of an uni- 

 form pale buff colour ; the hinder part of these legs, the fore part of the pos- 

 terior legs, and the inner side of the thighs, are white. On the outer side of 

 the hinder legs, at some little distance above the heel, is a large blackish 

 patch. The under parts of the body are of a dirty white hue, arising from 

 the hairs being dusky or brownish at the base, and tipped with white, as on 

 the fore part of the belly, or of a pale buff colour at the base, as towards the 

 rump. The edge of the upper lip, the throat, neck, and chest, are white ; a 

 broad grayish band extends across the latter, and another of a paler hue 

 crosses the lower part of the neck. The chin is black, and this colour is ex- 

 tended backwards around the angle of the mouth. The upper part of the 

 head is of a pale yellow-brown colour, each hair being annulated with white 

 near the apex. The ears are furnished with white hairs internally, and ex- 

 ternally they are of a yellowish brown colour, tipped with black ; at the base 

 of the ears, and the portion of the neck on each side nearest to them, the 



